Houses of worship and faith-based agencies are stepping in to help cover some of the costs for desperate consumers being hit by soaring utility prices across Maryland.

Spokespeople for the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company said the cost of natural gas was 30% higher last month than it was in January 2024 — one of many factors behind steep spikes in energy prices that more than doubled local bills.

As a result, some residents are turning to places of worship for help with the financial hardship caused by massive BGE bills. In 2023 alone, 80,000 BGE customers had their power shut off after falling behind on bills. That is alarming to faith leaders across religions, many of whom try to help those experiencing financial hardship by paying bills as part of their traditions of community involvement.

The Baltimore-based nonprofit Catholic Charities provides help with utility payments at several of its 200 sites in Maryland, and the Salvation Army of Central Maryland offers help with utility bills at five locations in greater Baltimore and one in Annapolis.

Some individual churches also offer varying degrees of help with utility payments for those who can demonstrate they are in a financial crunch, including Hampden United Methodist Church in Hampden and City Church Presbyterian in Homeland, according to web listings, and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in East Baltimore. Neither Hampden United Methodist nor City Church Hampden officials could be reached for comment.

But Darlene Thomas, an administrative assistant at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in East Baltimore, said the historically Black parish offers all the help it can to those who are on the verge of having their power cut off or being evicted.

“These are our brothers and sisters, and people in this town need aid,” said Thomas, who doubles as a volunteer with the St. Vincent DePaul Society, an international Catholic program with a mission of helping the poor. “We can’t pay it all, we don’t have the funds for that, but we can delay a power cutoff or keep someone in their home until [they] can handle their next payment.”

Assistance sessions at the parish take place between 9 a.m. and noon on the second and fourth Thursday every month. On a slow day, Thomas said, five or six people might attend. During the cold spell and amidst the price hikes, about 15 usually show up for help.

Her efforts are part of outreach efforts by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, she said, but it’s St. Francis Xavier parishioners who support the program through individual donations.

A spokeswoman for Jewish Community Services, a humanitarian agency, said its main office in Pikesville gets frequent calls seeking support with utility bills, and the group refers callers to the appropriate government agencies. And the Maryland director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Zainab Chaudry, said most mosques in the area have charitable funds for distribution to families in need.

The money derives from the practice of charitable giving known as zakat, which constitutes one of the Five Pillars of Islam, she said.

“It’s for rent, utilities, groceries, (all) essentials,” Chaudry said.

Similarly, Christianity teaches followers to love their neighbors. And whether Catholic or Protestant, many who practice the faith believe that by helping the poor, they’re helping God.

“It’s our call to serve our siblings in need,” said the Rev. Randy Callender, the canon for mission for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. “We are anointed to bring the good news to the poor. The sacrificial act of love is the outward sign of God’s love. That’s what we’re called to do.”

But Callender said most Christian churches prioritize programs that provide food banks or soup kitchens over those that assist community members with utility bills.

During the icy winter months, covering one’s utility bills can be as urgent as the need for a coat or a decent meal — particularly if an economic downturn is in effect or during periods of skyrocketing gas and electric costs like the one Marylanders are experiencing now.

Government efforts can also be helpful.

The Office of Home Energy Programs, a division of the Maryland Department of Human Services, provides assistance with bills in the form of grants to low-income households in order to make energy costs more affordable or restore energy services.

The Baltimore City Department of Public Works offers help for those experiencing hardship with bill adjustments, payment plans and other forms of financial assistance, including credits and fee exemptions.

But many houses of worship and faith-based agencies strive to fill in whatever gaps they can.

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has no formal program for emergency financial needs, Callender said, but many of its more than 100 parishes find ways to make funds available for parishioners or residents who ask.

They do so, he said, through what is known in the faith as rectors’ discretionary accounts — funds large or small sometimes made possible through a second passing of the collection plate on Sundays — or by way of donations made in confidence on a case-by-case basis.

Still new in his role as canon for mission, Callender is the longtime former rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis, a congregation that draws about 150 worshippers each Sunday.

When he started in that parish, he said, its discretionary account contained a grand total of $500, but once he began speaking from the pulpit about the impact even a small donation can have, the total mushroomed.

It was about $5,000 by the time he left St. Philip’s last year, he said, and it is now up to the parish rector, or senior pastor, to decide how to disburse it.

At times he could only pay for part of a needy individual’s gas and electric bills, but he encouraged them to reach out to other houses of worship to try to fill out the rest, and that usually helped.

“These are siblings in our community who are in need, and we are a community of churches,” he said.

It’s also part of the mission of the Salvation Army of Central Maryland to help those in need to cover their utility bills and their rent when they’re behind on payments.

Nina Christian, director of social services for the evangelical Christian nonprofit in the Baltimore area, said the organization relies on donations and federal grants to cover those costs, and the amount available can vary from month to month depending on several factors.

But even in the best of times, the group limits its help on utilities to $1,000 per year per applicant, and it will only grant the assistance if the individuals in need can demonstrate that they can pay off their bill with help from other sources.

“We’re trying to help people get ahead and not just enable them,” Christian said.

Some are so far behind that they don’t even qualify for Salvation Army help, Christian said, and government subsidies have shrunk enough over the past five years that covering bills over the last two weeks alone has been difficult after BGE’s recent price hikes.

“We’ve definitely noticed a spike in applications for utilities as compared to rent,” she said. “We’ve been getting a lot of requests. We help wherever we can.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jonathan M. Pitts at jonpitts@baltsun.com.